186 PIM ON THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ. [April 11, 1859. 



canal from Suez to Tineh was impracticable, the project has been 

 again revived. 



M. Lesseps, a gentleman who formerly held a diplomatic appoint- 

 ment in Egypt, has taken up the question with an energy and zeal 

 worthy of success. 



In November, 1854, he presented to Said Pasha, the present 

 Viceroy of Egypt, a memorial on the subject, which sets forth : — 



*' That the utility of a navigable canal joining the Mediterranean 

 and Eed Sea has always been recognised. 



" That Napoleon when leaving Egypt said, ' It is an important 

 affair; it is not now in my power to accomplish it, but the Turkish 

 Government will perhaps one day owe its preservation and its glory 

 to the execution of this project.' 



" That the moment has now arrived to realise Napoleon's pre- ' 

 diction. 



" That M. Lepere (50 years ago), Linant Bey, Gallici Bey, and 

 Maugel Bey, agree in the possibility of a direct cutting. 



" That the cost of the canal of Suez is not out of proportion with 

 the utility and profits of this important work, which would curtail 

 by more than one half the distance of India from the principal 

 countries of Europe and America. 



" That the pilgrimage to Mecca will henceforth be assured and 

 facilitated to all Mussulmans ; an immense impulse given to steam 

 navigation and to distant voyages ; the countries on the coasts of the 

 Eed Sea and the Gulf of Persia, the eastern coast of Africa, India, 

 the kingdom of Siam, Cochin China, Japan, the vast Empire of China 

 with its more than 300,000,000 of inhabitants, the Philippine Islands, 

 Australia and that immense archipelago towards which the emigra- 

 tion from old Europe is directed, brought nearer by nearly 3000 

 leagues to the Mediterranean Sea and the north of Europe, — such are 

 the sudden and immediate effects of cutting through the Isthmus of 

 Suez. 



** That the yearly European and American traffic round Cape 

 Horn and the Cape of Good Hope is 6,000,000 tons, and the world's 

 commerce would realize 6,000,000?. annually by sending the ships 

 via the Gulf of Arabia. 



*' That if only 3,000,000 tons passed through the canal, there 

 would be an annual produce of 1,200,000/. by collecting 10 francs 

 per ton. 



*' That the political advantages are equally incontestable. To 

 England — mistress of Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Islands, Aden, 

 important stations on the east coast of Africa, India, Singapore, and 

 Australia ; to France ; to German}^, — for Prince Mettemich and 



